With the 2024 election season already underway, ABC News president Kim Godwin has announced the producers/reporters who will embark on the campaign trail, contributing to all of ABC’s political coverage in the months ahead.
What’s Happening:
- The 2024 embed class includes Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Libby Cathey, Abby Cruz, Hannah Demissie, Fritz Farrow, Lalee Ibssa, Nicholas Kerr, Soorin Kim, Will McDuffie, Kendall Ross and Kelsey Walsh.
- ABC News has also designated five alternates in the event that more coverage is needed on the ground. They are: Kiara Brantley-Jones, Julia Cherner, Isabella Murray, Olivia Osteen and Laura Romero.
- Below is more information on each producer/reporter, including their background and experiences.
- Gabriella Abdul-Hakim is a New York-based producer with ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis. She has worked on several Prime specials, including The Women Left Behind, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. She started her career at ABC News as a fellow.
- Libby Cathey is a multimedia reporter for ABCNews.com based in the Washington bureau, covering the White House, Capitol Hill and breaking political news. She started her ABC News career as a desk assistant in Washington. Libby was based in Arizona during the 2022 midterm election, covering races in the state as a campaign producer/reporter. Prior to ABC, she served as a talent and travel coordinator at The Ellen DeGeneres Show and as a local news story editor at Snapchat.
- Abby Cruz is a D.C.-based producer/reporter for ABC News’ Race & Culture unit, producing and reporting for each ABC News platform. She’s fluent in Spanish and uses her bilingual skills to interview and translate in the field, during interviews and in editing. Abby covered Texas and Nevada as a 2022 midterm election campaign producer/reporter. Prior to ABC, she worked at the Washington City Paper and the Philadelphia Daily News.
- Hannah Demissie is a digital journalist in the political unit, compiling research and reporting on important political developments. She covered the races in North Carolina and Missouri during the 2022 midterm election as a campaign producer/reporter. Previously, Hannah was a desk assistant in Washington and a political unit intern at CBS News.
- Fritz Farrow started his career at CBS News, reporting on the 2020 election with 60 Minutes. Most recently, he worked as a broadcast associate with the CBS Evening News and as a specialist with the political unit, covering the 2022 midterms. In his previous role, Fritz also filled in as head producer in CBS’s Washington bureau on weekends. He has covered negotiations on the infrastructure and social spending bills and produced enterprise pieces, including a story on the only Black military academy in American history.
- Lalee Ibssa is a digital journalist with ABC’s Pennsylvania Avenue team in D.C., where she reports and produces from Capitol Hill for multiple platforms. Lalee was previously a desk assistant in Washington. In 2022, she served as a 2022 midterm election campaign producer/reporter covering Georgia. Prior to ABC, Lalee served as a content producer at NBC Bay Area.
- Nicholas Kerr is a digital news associate for ABC News’ western bureaus. Based in Los Angeles, he leads the weekend assignment desk and has assisted with field-producing breaking news coverage ranging from wildfires to mass shootings to elections. Before coming to ABC News, Nicholas interned with WABC’s 7 On Your Side investigative unit and served as editor-in-chief of Seton Hall University’s undergraduate newspaper, The Setonian.
- Soorin Kim is an investigative data reporter focusing on money in politics and political investigations. She has covered a wide range of stories, from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 presidential election, the Ukraine scandal that led to former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment proceedings and election security during the 2020 and 2022 elections to non-political stories like the Surfside building collapse, mass shootings and how the coronavirus impacted different communities across the country. Prior to joining ABC News, Soorin was a local government reporter for the Columbia Missourian and a reporting intern at OpenSecrets.org.
- Will McDuffie is a digital news associate with the New York desk, where he covers breaking news. Will began at ABC as a member of the politics desk and reported on Florida in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. During the 2022 midterm election, Will covered Pennsylvania as a campaign producer/reporter. Previously, Will was a corps member at Teach for America and taught third grade at elementary schools in Minneapolis and Brooklyn.
- Kendall Ross is a production associate with World News Tonight with David Muir. They started as an intern with the Race & Culture unit in Washington, D.C., in 2022 before becoming a desk assistant with the unit later that year. Kendall has worked on several projects centered around the liberation and celebration of marginalized peoples, including those in the Black and queer communities, such as “A ‘GMA’ Digital Conversation: Breaking the Mental Health Stigma for Black Women.”
- Kelsey Walsh is a New York-based associate producer with special events contributing to all of ABC News’ breaking news coverage as well as the planning and producing of all major news events. During her tenure, she assisted with midterm election night 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade, the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, and Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral. Prior to joining special events, Kelsey was a member of the politics desk and reported on North Carolina in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. She also served as a Washington bureau desk assistant.
Alternates:
- Kiara Brantley-Jones is a segment producer at ABC News Live. Previously, she worked on the Race & Culture unit, writing digital stories and assisting with the production of segments for the Soul of a Nation series. Prior to joining ABC News, she was a Washington, D.C.-based news associate with CNN.
- Julia Cherner is a segment producer for This Week with George Stephanopoulos, where she produces newsmaker interviews, writes and cuts tape packages and pitches stories. She previously served as an associate producer for This Week and a desk assistant for the Washington, D.C., bureau. She has also worked on network-wide special events, including election night coverage of the 2022 midterms, President Biden’s inauguration, and the 2020 election. She began her broadcast career as a summer intern for NBC Nightly News in New York and, later, for the CBS News political unit in D.C.
- Isabella Murray works with the digital team as part of ABC News’ Washington, D.C., assignment desk. She has reported out of Congress, covered the White House, chronicled the twists and turns of the DNC’s early primary calendar shakeup, and produced pieces for World News Tonight and Good Morning America. She has also worked with the political unit in reporting on the 2022 midterm election. Prior to ABC News, Isabella worked for Iowa Starting Line, embedded in the pivotal Hawkeye State ahead of the 2020 presidential election, and later wrote for the Biloxi Sun Herald.
- Olivia Osteen is an associate producer for 20/20, based in New York. She has been part of the Uvalde: 365 team, covering the aftermath of the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary on the ground in Uvalde, Texas. She has also worked on the 20/20 special on the University of Idaho murders. Olivia began her journalism career at ABC News following graduation.
- Laura Romero is a production assistant with the investigative unit. She has covered a number of political and non-political stories, including former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment proceedings, the COVID-19 pandemic, organized retail theft, and threats to election officials during the 2022 midterm elections. Laura has also reported on breaking news stories, including a number of mass shootings in the U.S. and the building collapse in Surfside, Florida. She joined ABC News as an intern in 2019.
What They’re Saying:
- ABC News President Kim Godwin: “This entire group has a shared passion and drive for chasing the truth and hitting the ground running. I’m confident that this team — alongside our powerhouse political team including political director Rick Klein, deputy political director Averi Harper and senior manager of newsgathering Greg Croft — will provide our news division with reputable and straightforward reporting, guiding viewers through another important election season.”